Mom Who Let Daughter’s 10-Year-Old Friend Walk Home Alone at 11pm Backed

A mom is wondering whether she made the wrong call by not walking her daughter’s 10-year-old friend home late at night.

The mom, who goes by u/Kitchen-Tomato2132 on Reddit, posted on the popular ‘AITA’ (Am I the a******) forum to explain that her 11-year-old daughter, Rowan, hosted her first sleep over.

Rowan’s best friend Amanda (almost 11) lived two houses down and across the street in their “quiet” cul-de-sac.

The night seemed to be going perfectly until 11 p.m., when Amanda became homesick and asked to leave. Kathleen texted Amanda’s mom Susan who gave her the go-ahead for her daughter to return home.

“Amanda packed up her things, and I walked her to the porch. From there, I watched her walk the short distance to her house and go inside safely before heading back inside myself,” she wrote in her post.

However, the next day, Susan confronted the mom, furious that she hadn’t walked Amanda all the way to her door. She apologized but noted she believed Amanda was perfectly safe given the circumstances.

Despite her explanation, Susan banned Amanda from playing with Rowan, accusing the mother of putting her daughter in danger.

At the time of writing, the post has received 6,700 upvotes and over 600 comments. Many Reddit users were in support of Kathleen, labeling Susan as an overbearing mother.

“She was supervised, you watched her. Does Susan stay 3 feet away from her at the park? Or does she watch from a safe distance? This woman is nuts!” u/Illustrious-Horse276 commented.

Others said Susan was to blame and if her daughter’s safety was a big concern, should have collected Amanda herself.

“The mom could have come over, talked to her kid and maybe she would have changed her mind and stayed,” one user wrote.

“If mom was that concerned…why didn’t she come get her kid? Why is it okay for you to leave a houseful of children alone? SHE put her daughter in danger by not saying, I’ll be right over,” added another.

Newsweek spoke to Kathryn Wall, the program director at Safe Kids PBC, a community-based program that offers safety education and materials to families to decrease preventable injuries in children from 0 to 19.

Wall said that according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, most children are generally considered ready to walk to school alone around age 10, but it’s important to remember that these are general guidelines.

“When we talk with parents about children walking to and from school or to a friend’s house, the primary consideration is the child’s age and their developmental level,” she told Newsweek.

If a parent deems their child ready to walk on their own, the child safety expert recommended they do a walk audit (assessment) for at least one week, every day before school starts.

“This would also be the same if your child would routinely walk to a friend or relative’s house or neighborhood activity such as a church youth group,” Wall added.

Providing additional context, Kathleen acknowledged Amanda was a timid child and that Susan can be overprotective of her children.

She admitted it might have been a lapse in judgment not to consider Susan’s parenting style and Amanda’s personality.

“If Amanda had asked me to walk her home I absolutely would have,” Rowan’s mom wrote.

She was backed by the Reddit community and declared not the a******.

Newsweek reached out to u/Kitchen-Tomato2132. We could not verify details of the case.